LISTS

Libraries Visited in NYC

One of my hobbies is visiting libraries throughout the United States. Here’s a list of libraries I’ve visited in NYC:

New York Public Library Main Branch

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

New York Public Library Science, Industry and Business Library

Columbia University Butler Library

Columbia University Health Sciences Library

New York Academy of Medicine Library

The Grolier Club Library

New York Society Library

New York Historical Society Library and Museum

Library at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

NYU Library

Morgan Library and Museum

NYC Department of Records City Hall Library

General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen Library

Twelve Major Historical Events in my Lifetime

Everybody who was over the age of 6 when President Kennedy was shot probably remembers exactly where they were when they heard the news. I was in the 7th grade, coming up the stairs from gym class. It came over the PA system. With the Challenger disaster, I was at a conference on pediatrics in Hollywood, FL. We were watching the launch on TV. At first, we didn’t realize there was something amiss.

JFK’s assassination

The Beatles arrival in America

Martin Luther King’s assassination

First man on the moon

The end of the Vietnam War

Challenger explosion

The fall of the Berlin Wall

End of apartheid

The death of Princess Di

Columbine

9/11

iPhone

Twelve of My Favorite TV Shows and Characters

Some of these are leftovers from childhood. Others resonate from adulthood.

Candid Camera – where a whole generation grew up thinking that the word “candid” meant “hidden.”

Seinfeld – sidekicks were the next generation of The Mary Tyler Moore Show with Elaine as Rhoda, Kramer as Ted and George as Murray.

ER- of course, my life’s career

Twelve Bad Ideas

Doctors giving sugar lollipops and balloons to their patients.

Having mercury in thermometers.

Selling candy cigarettes

Having no smoking sections in theaters, restaurants and airplanes

“New” Coke

The Edsel

In 1920 The Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees so that the manager could invest in the Broadway show “No, No Nanette” – big flop.

Asbestos in insulation, brake pads, etc.

Red dye #2

Leaded gasoline

Pay toilets

Olestra

Unique Celebrity Names

One of my theories in life is that having an unusual first name increases your chances of becoming famous. Examples: Barack, Cher, Elton, Eminem, Madonna, Magic, Oprah, and Shakira, to name a few. Some are original names from birth; others were created. You know immediately who they are. The list started out with a few names and slowly expanded to 419 names as of April, 2017.